Reports 2nd October 2010
Men's 1sts come back from 2-0 down to draw with Wisbech
Men's 2nds lose to Peterborough
Men's 3rds lose 3-0 to a Mark Pears inspired Newmarket
Ladies' 1sts take all 3 points against Spalding
Ladies' 2nds play out a 0-0 stalemate against Ely
Cambridge South Men's I 2 - 2 Wisbech Town II
H/T: 1 - 2
Scorers: Sanjay Agarwala, Graham McCulloch
MoM: Steve Parker, Rob Garrett
In a close encounter of the usual kind with these doughty opponents, South fought back strongly to gain a valuable away point after going two down in the first 20 minutes and, although not regularly threatening the Wisbech goal in the latter part of second half, they held on tenaciously enough at their own end to merit the result.
A promising start by the South midfield was rudely suffocated when a solo run by one of the home midfielders was left unchecked as he skipped into the circle and unleashed a fierce lifter which Steve Parker, diving to his right, could only deflect on its way in. The South keeper had better fortune with his next piece of action, a firm block to a low, flicked short corner, the remains of which were cleared away by Rob Garrett. The skipper, setting a fine example with his positive forward movement and energetic tackling back, had much to do as Wisbech concentrated on possession hockey but South created their chances as well, Graham McCulloch firing just wide from a slipped short corner won after aggressive work from Russell Johnson. A second South short ensued following Sanjay Agarwala's skilful use of sensible distribution from Dave Aston and Mark Williams, but a rightward slip from James Hawkes was unmet. The latter then forced a save from the Wisbech keeper with a flicked effort before a profitable line of inquiry again involving Garrett, Aston and Williams saw Agarwala, unaccustomedly popping up on the right this time, asking serious questions of the home defence. Garrett had the keeper on his knees smothering the ball at another short but Wisbech escaped to bang the ball into South's circle, where George Wych reversed out with aplomb and Ian Glover finally made safe. Evenly poised at this stage, and looking promising as a raking midfield move involving the improving James Cobbe and others made good ground towards the top corner, the game took a turn for the worse when a mishit cross from Wisbech skewered off a defensive South stick, opening up plenty of space for a grateful poacher to double the advantage.
Wisbech cranked up the pressure, testing Parker with a firm shot which he cleared beyond the D, but South were still trying to spread the ball as Garrett worked like a Trojan in both attack and defence, once making a crunching low tackle and then circumnavigating four men to guide the ball to safety. Slightly closer support was perhaps needed but, after an angled Wisbech cross had just failed to find a winger ghosting behind the defence on the far post, concerted good work from Garrett and Jack Chalk, pressing upwards after a couple of nifty pirouettes midfield, drew a save from the home keeper and then a fourth short corner. From this, a crisp double slip made its way through to Agarwala, who was in perfect position to reduce the deficit and give South the lift they wanted a psychologically opportune two minutes before half-time.
Wisbech jumped straight back into the fray after the restart, a well-positioned Parker blocking a reverse that was unfussily cleared by Glover, but South then completed their double whammy when McCulloch injected a swift short corner and then headed for the spot to redirect Hawkes's firm slap into the upper half of the goal. The umpires eventually rejected Wisbech's protestations, so 2-2 it was and the home side redoubled both their efforts and, presently, their decibel levels. Parker's good balance made sure a close-range shot loosed after a goal-line run was thwarted and then cleared to the wing before Williams fed Johnson, who penetrated the circle but was brought up short by the rather larger Wisbech keeper. A bout of hacking in the D led to South's sixth short, from which Chalk's shot was blocked, whereupon Johnson's long pass narrowly evaded Hawkes racing forward.
Wisbech's tactical discussions seemed to bear fruit as they started to edge possession and, though McCulloch contended with typical sinew up the right and Parker dispatched out to the corner, Wisbech created a sudden breakaway. Parker dived desperately and, though missing his man, diverted him enough to allow Aston to swiftly shadow attacker and ball to squeaky safety just past the post. Then, after Johnson had blocked an advance stemming from a left-wing cross, the ball ran dangerously free from the ensuing 16 and Parker had to race out and slam down the long barrier to prevent a further incursion. Two penalty corners for Wisbech followed in short order but again South were equal to the task. From the first, a double slip opened up a big gap but Parker made a fine low stick save, only to see the second phase scoop the ball up and over towards goal where, thankfully, Aston was perfectly placed to bring off a great save on the line with commendable sang froid. The second drew a solid block from the South keeper and an assured clearance from Glover but this barely interrupted Wisbech's spell of control inside South's 25. Garrett played his full part in a defence that stayed for the most part pretty calm and unflustered and South managed to break the shackles with a few robust thrusts up the right, although they were hard pressed to keep the ball in the Wisbech half when they got there. Nevertheless, they successfully withstood Wisbech's persistent hassling and, after a final near-post intervention by Parker five minutes from time, they looked unlikely to concede.
This was an entertaining and hard-fought game in which South's new-look defence, revolving around a composed Wych, did well to hold their committed and direct opponents at bay. There was much common-sense application at the back and, when South were allowed to move the ball around further up the field, a hint that they could cause problems, even against a solid defence like Wisbech's. A short-corner tally of six to three in South's favour bears this out, and a conversion rate of two from six shows some promise. Next up are Horncastle, who have endured something of a baptism of fire after their promotion but who have probably been unlucky to start off against two teams likely to be among the hotter promotion contenders.
Team played: Steve Parker, George Wych, Dave Aston, Ian Glover, Sanjay Agarwala, Rob Garrett, Jack Chalk, Russell Johnson, Mark Williams, John Hawkes, Graham McCulloch, James Cobbe
Cambridge South Men's II 2 - 3 City of Peterborough VI
H/T: 1 - 1
Scorers: Rob Barton (2)
MoM: Matt Readman (For good distribution and tackling.)
LoM: Tom South (For doing all the hard work, dribbling 20 meters, dodging the goalie and then kicking the ball out of the goal.)
A bright Saturday morning saw moments of very good play from South, moving up the pitch in triangles, easy passes and hard work; one attack led to a lovely flick by Tristen Knight, cheekily deflected home by Rob Barton to give South an early lead. In the face of South pressure, Peterborough replied with a well-executed short corner, finishing off a blocked shot before the defense could sweep it off the pads; a repeat performance early in the second half then saw the lead going to the visitors.
To South’s credit, heads did not drop and the hunt for an equaliser was on. As the team pressed forward more and more, the ball found its way into the opposition D on many occasions. But the final touch proved elusive, with Tom South narrowly failing to connect at the far post with a pin-point pass from a superbly playing Matt Readman. Eventually, it was Rob Barton that levelled the score with a trademark reverse-stick shot.
Scenting a win, South kept pressing hard, only to be caught short by a quick P’boro break. Desperate lunges by almost every member of South’s back four (not to mention ‘keeper Shahbaz Ali) could not stop P’boro’s galloping forward and the visitors were on the front foot again. The final moments off the game were annoyingly reminiscent of last week’s result against St Ives: despite South camping out in P’boro’s 23, the ball just wouldn’t cross the line.
In the end, a disgruntled South team had to concede yet another match they ought to have won, as even the opposition captain - rather gracious in his unexpected win - agreed. On the bright side, the team played better than last week, with more (if not enough) composed and easy passing; there are still improvements to make, though, before the first points will come.
Team played: Shahbaz Ali, Dave Monck, Andy Passmore, Tom Anns, Manu Bhardwaj, Ron Oren, Bhavdeep Virdi, Tom South, Matt Readman, Tim Clapp, Nishant Patel, Rob Barton
Cambridge South Men's III 0 - 3 Newmarket I
H/T: 0 - 0
Scorers: None
MoM: Matt Kern (Ensured that Newmarket's star forwards hardly got a look in for most of the game.)
CSouth kept Newmarket out for 50 minutes by a combination of rock solid defending, team interplay, and good use of the width of the pitch. The rapid Newmarket forwards were well marked by LeeEvansWatsonKern with John Benedikz sweeping up when needed. Midfield and attack had many good moments, although once again few chances as that final penetrating ball into the D proved elusive in spite of the best efforts of General CreedSouth in the heart of midfield, and their youthful sidekicks Watson and Critchley..not to mention marginally less youthful battlers Dijkstra and Espley.
The goals only came once Stu Creed had gone off with a nasty back injury, and Newmarket snatched a couple of breakaways, as well as an unlucky rebound off the keeper. On all 3 occasions the home defence was ovestretched, with the rest of the team in enemy territory. 3 nil wasnt a fair reflection of an even game. The scoreline would have been less one-sided if some of the CSouth short corners had been converted, or if some of the decent crosses had found a home stick near goal.
At least CSouth did better than Newmarket's previous opponents, who suffered an 8 - 1 drubbing.
..and Liam the chef at the Corner house did us proud, almost pipping Matt Kern for MoM
Team played: Chris Collinson, John Benedikz, James Lee, Ian Evans, Tom Watson, Matt Kern, Paul South, Stu Creed, Wilco Dijkstra, Eric Critchley, Tom South, John Greaves, Rupert Espley
Cambridge South Men's IV 0 - 3 St Ives IV
H/T: 0 - 1
Scorers: None
MoM: Michael Hendry (Didn't put a foot wrong.)
A warm welcome to Owen and Michael playing competitively for the club for the first time. If you don't know who Michael is, he is the guy that has been to training, Tuesday knockabouts and all the socials for the last 2 years :-).
We learnt a new rule in this game for those who have not done any umpiring.
The goal keeper cannot touch it with his pads outside the D. That proved to be the major difference between the 2 teams in the first half as South battled well and kept a young skilful St Ives side at bay and even created some good chances to go ahead. St Ives scored during the period the 'keeper was off and Simon Jelly bravely donned the helmet and went kicking back and even saved a couple of shorts before a flick went passed to give St Ives a 0-1 lead.
The second half South went for it, but ended up defending large parts of the half and Shahbaz kept out a large number of shots and eventually one did get through to make it 0:2. South then had their best chance when Boris squared the ball back to Ky as he reached for it and turned it hit his foot and thus still no goal after all these years playing for the club (author's prerogative to write about himself). South tried, played well as a team, but St Ives probably deserved the victory based on possession and shots at goal.
Final score 0-3 and the Red Bull played a blinder as far as teas went.
Team played: Shahbaz Ali, Owen Vaughan, Ky Ho, Michael Hendry, James Bridge, John Sharp, John Parker, Simon Jelley, Boris Lossy, Shahzad Ali, Jake Davis, James Raikes
Cambridge South Ladies' I 3 - 1 Spalding Ladies I
H/T: 1 - 0
Scorers: Caroline Dent (2), Sian Tomlin
MoM: Rhiannan Williams (Consistent tackling and some good passes to set up attacks from the back.)
Cambridge South Ladies 1s played some excellent team hockey for their first victory of the season against a strong Spalding side.
South got the first push-back but failed to take advantage and were immediately put under pressure by the visitors. However Captain Georgie’s pre-game adjustment of the team formation from last season was vindicated, as South’s defence regained possession and set up a counter-attacking break, setting the pattern for the game. For a while in the first half South managed to find their rhythm and put Spalding under some consistent pressure but could not find the back of the net.
The first goal was created on another break with Georgie’s through ball finding Caroline D on the left hand side of the D for a long sweep into the corner of the net. Spalding fought back hard but Rhi and Julie out wide never gave the Spalding forwards any space on the ball, and their best chance was denied by an amazing save off Cassie’s shoulder. They won a succession of short corners at the end of the half but South again stood firm.
The second half continued in a similar vein, with Spalding having a lot of possession and territory, but South looking dangerous on the break. Lindsey at centre back picked out some beautiful strong passes to spaces created by intelligent running up front by Alice, Sian, and Caroline D. A few slightly erratic umpiring decisions against both teams rattled Spalding’s composure but South kept cool and eventually capitalised. The second goal was set up by a lovely passing move right from the back involving Ellie, Julie, Caroline M, and Sian before being well finished by Caroline D. Newcomer Sian capped a strong performance at right wing by picking up a rebound off the Spalding keeper and slotting it from a very narrow angle for South’s third goal.
The defence was a sterling effort by the whole team, with Hayley and Caroline M in midfield tireless in running forward then tracking back time after time, and Ellie tackling strongly to sweep up any loose ends. Spalding’s pressure was rewarded with a late goal from a well directed strike off a short corner. But South stayed strong, and cheered on by supporters Loopy and Freya, closed out the win.
A strong performance from every member of the team, and if we can maintain this level of hockey we can look forward to a successful season.
Team played: Cassie Woodfin, Rhiannan Williams, Lindsey Berends, Ellie Raffan, Julie Sadler, Caroline Dent, Caroline Molony, Sian Tomlin, Georgie Hurford, Hayley Sharpe, Alice Hug
Cambridge South Ladies' II 0 - 0 Ely Ladies II
H/T: 0 - 0
Scorers: None
MoM: Sam Cooper
Awaiting Report
Team played: Louise Tonkin, Tracey Hunter, Ash Price, Lyn Wood, Sam Cooper, Carla Fitzachary, Georgie Hurford, Melissa Brown, Siren Dabb, Hayley Sharpe, Charlie Orrock
